The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not just a track; it has a life of its own that can be incredibly rewarding and cruel beyond words.  It has changed lives moving forward and ending many too early.  

Today on Pole and Bump Day 2025 we saw victory and defeat.  Until May of this year Robert Shwartznman with the fledging PREMA had never driven an oval.   That his first oval race was going to be the Indy 500 was like your first mountain climb be Everest.   

This race is so unique that practice, qualifying and the race span two weekends.  

Robert Shwartzman became the first rookie driver to win the pole since Teo Fabi in1983. He is just the third rookie to win the pole on track and will be the sixth first-year starter to lead the field to green in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing


His car was incredibly slow on the first day of practice , but this little team didn’t give up.  The PREMA Engineers got to work and each days made improvements that gave Shwartzman the confidence to work his was up the speed charts.   By Saturday people were seeing a top 12 car.  But very few expected what we saw Sunday afternoon.  

The unbelievable feat came about when Shwartzman laid down  a four-lap average speed of 232.790 mph in the No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet during the Firestone Fast Six. PREMA, which joined the NTT INDYCAR SERIES this season after years of success in European racing, became the first team to claim the “500” pole in its first attempt since Mayer Motor Racing put Tom Sneva on the pole in 1984

“I was like, ‘This is a dream; it can’t be true,” Shwartzman said. “I don’t know what even to say. The car felt amazing. I can’t thank PREMA and Chevy. Coming here for my first oval race, I would never even expect it to be in this position. It’s unbelievable.”

The other end was Jacob Abel, who fell short of making the field in the last run of the Last Chance Qualifying session. Abel’s last-ditch attempt reached 226.394 in the No. 75 Miller High Life Honda of Dale Coyne Racing. “Unfortunately, starting yesterday I’ve been kind of preparing for this a little bit,” Abel said. “Super, super weird situation. We were happy all week long. The No. 51 Miller High Life car was fast. It just seemed like something happened overnight Friday to Saturday, and we just immediately lost speed. And it’s just been getting slower and slower every run.

The other strange event on the day was when Josef Newgarden and Will Power, didn’t make their respective one attempt after a violation of INDYCAR Rule 14.7.8.16, an unapproved body fit on the rear attenuator of the car was discovered during Pre Qualification Tech inspection.

Article credit: Chuck null

photos by Indycar